Washington seeks to weaken Moscow as much as possible – Russian security chief

Washington does not want to see a strong Russia and wants to weaken it as much as possible, not excluding a break-up of the country, national security chief Nikolay Patrushev has told a Russian daily.

“The US leadership has set an objective – to dominate the world. Therefore they don’t need a strong Russia. On the contrary, they want to weaken our country as much as possible,” the head of Russia’s Security Council said in an interview with Komsomolskaya Pravda published Tuesday.

Patrushev added that in reaching that objective the US does not exclude even the disintegration of Russia to gain access to its lucrative natural resources. “Washington believes it could become a catalyst in this [disintegration] process.”

Moscow is concerned with NATO’s military buildup and delegation to the alliance of certain global functions in open violation of the international law, he said.

NATO’s further expansion and movement of military infrastructure closes to the border with Russia pose a threat to national security, Patrushev added.

“To understand NATO’s objectives, one needs to realize that NATO’s leadership strictly sticks to the US agenda. Washington skillfully uses the anti-Russian stance of its eastern members to neutralize ‘excessively independent’ members of the alliance (France, Germany and Italy).”

Russia is not interested in confrontation with the West, Patrushev said, stressing that Moscow does realize that Russia is only a part of the former Soviet Union and unlike the US does not aspire to become a superpower.

“But that does not mean Russia has no national interests,” Patrushev said. “We must protect them, also through an effective foreign policy.”

The ongoing standoff between Russia and the West was not initiated by Moscow, which not only protects its interests, but also always respects the interests of its partners, he said.

“The United States is the initiator of the current conflict. Europe submits to their will, so the decision to terminate the confrontation does not hinge upon Russia,” Patrushev said.